Leicester City fans remember helicopter crash victims with '5,000-1' march

Fans, players and staff honour the Foxes’ late chairman before, during and after 0-0 draw

It was almost too generous a gift for a journalist. A little after the Blue Army of fans set off on their “5000-1” march from Leicester’s Jubilee Square it started to rain, hard.

The march was named after the odds the bookies gave LCFC to win the premiership in that extraordinary 2015-16 season.

The memories of that made the downpour more than bearable. After all, “The Boss” had made it possible for them to sing about being champions of England. So they did.

Then, as the first few hundred reached the King Power Stadium, the sun came out – and a rainbow appeared. Bitter sweet.

Adrian Wilkinson was on the march. He attended his first match as a city fan in 1950, in the old division one. He, like everyone else, is still shaken about what they’re calling “the events of 27 October” because the chairman was “family”, “more than an owner, because of what he did for the club, the city and the county of Leicestershire”.

Jag Laxman, too, who’s been a fan for only a quarter century or so. He wanted to show support, “but it’s not about the football today. It’s all about the man.”

At the ground, the huge carpet of flowers, shirts, messages and tributes that lay between turnstiles 52 and 57 had gone, but there were new ones, on banners, shirts, scarves: “Thank you Khun Vichai for the time of our lives”; “Today this city is united”; “The Boss”.

Thai born Inthawa Clayton, who runs a restaurant on Melton Road, spoke for the hundred strong Thai community in the city, who remembered Vichai for their community centre and his kindnesses to them personally. Before Leicester played Burnley – a fairly routine game made dramatic simply by the circumstances – they played a blue-tinged tribute to the man, his benign smile beaming down, and soon enough a huge appreciation, after the silences, for Claudio Ranieri when he was spotted in the crowd – another moment of high affection.

The fans had been given black clacker and black and white scarves, matching the generally sombre air. A few tried to get a glimpse of the crash site from along the Aylestone Road.

My favourite though was the eccentric sandwich board man near the burger vans. His message ran:

“King Vichai

"THE BOSS

"U GAVE US TEARS

"OF JOY

"TOO SOON U LEAVE

"US WITH TEARS OF SORROW

"FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS”.

At the end Vichai’s son led what you can only call a lap of remembrance around the pitch. They played the same classical opera music as when they won the Premiership against those 5000-1 odds. The fans are hopeful. It was a memorial that morphed into a coronation. The king is dead: long live the king.

As for the game, well they drew nil-nil. No matter. They acquitted themselves well, they deserved to win (by common consent, though I have a bias) – and, the fans believe, this team still deserves the backing of the owners.